An Illustrated History of Coming to Grips

It may have coaxed a cheer from onlookers, but last week's Rabin/Arafat handclasp was a trifle stiff. That would place it on the chilly end in any ranking of the great modern gestures of reconciliation -- listed here in order of increasing warmheartedness.

1 The Williams/Richards Nonshake -- 1990

Texans never quite forgave G.O.P. gubernatorial wannabe Clayton Williams for snubbing the outstretched hand of opponent Ann Richards at a political luncheon.

2 The Carter/Kennedy Near Miss -- 1980

A reconciliation scene at the Democratic Convention waited until Ted Kennedy ) stiffly took the stage for a loveless handshake and a grim photo op.

3 The Arafat/Rabin Grip-and-Grimace -- 1993

Masterfully ambivalent body language -- Rabin had to make peace with a suddenly retired terrorist and also reassure Israelis he wasn't too happy about it.

4 The Apollo/Soyuz Close Encounter -- 1975

Perhaps the most choreographed handshake in history -- and certainly the most expensive -- it was the beginning of the end of the cold war theater known as the space race.

5 The Sadat/Begin Lovefest -- 1979

Or so it seems now, compared to the hesitant hand of last week.

6 The Davis/Nixon Bear Hug -- 1972

Ooooh! Love to love you, baby. A smarmy Sammy Davis Jr. put the big squeeze on Nixon at the G.O.P. convention, symbolizing the Rat Pack's wholesale desertion of the Democratic Party ship.